South Africa

Paramount King Molefe, traditional king of the Batlokwa Nation, was introduced to the Volunteer Ministers program at the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg.

Paramount King Molefe, traditional king of the Batlokwa Nation, introduced the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program to scores of chiefs and kings and some 5,000 tribal members from across South Africa at this year’s Mampuru Day celebration in the village of Mamone, in Limpopo, the northernmost province of the country. Dubbed the country’s first freedom fighter by Nelson Mandela, King Mampuru refused to submit his people to virtual slavery in British and Boer mines and farms and was hanged by the colonial South African government in 1883.

Peru, 2007: Volunteer Ministers flew to Peru in August to provide aid when a magnitude 8 earthquake destroyed most of the city of Pisco.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers who served at Ground Zero in the months following 9/11 set a standard for disaster response and inspired a movement that carried forward for the past decade, as evidenced by the work of Volunteer Ministers at disaster sites on six continents between 2007 and 2009.